The present invention relates to solid state area lighting, such as light emitting diode (LED) area lighting. Recent developments in LED technology have made practical the migration from simple indicator lights, portable device backlights and other low power lighting applications to high power applications including general illumination such as pathway and street lighting applications. The unique radiation profiles of LED's along with their relatively low light output as compared to other high power light sources (arc lamps, etc) requires the use of special optics to make their application effective. Additionally, LED's require special thermal management techniques as the semiconductor junction must remain below a certain temperature to yield long life. Currently high power LED's are mounted to a variety of substrates, most commonly metal core printed circuit boards (MCPCB) that allow an efficient thermal interface to various forms of heat sinks.